The Cry of Gojira

                       The Cry of Gojira

               There are some   species, real and imaginary, that refuse to die. One of our assumed tasks here at the Tamlinmediaco is to track the evolution of the secondary form, the memes and myths by which humanity operates.  In fact it’s well to bear in mind that the imaginary  beliefs very often outlast the real ones by several factors.  Perhaps we ought not consider this unusual when we consider that while what  is purported to be real is constantly being affirmed or denied, the unreal, or mythical lives in the land of once upon a time – a place far more difficult to access.

              Shakespeare asks “to what can we compare a rose?”  and even after long years of study I feel much the same way about myth, which is to say the forms of myth however constant in inner meaning are forever changing and as well  the uber myths, of eternal return, of the  golden origin, of the underworld journey, etc, also must resist firm characterization.

 Today I’ll   refer to two myths, somewhat related, and both ancient and contemporary.  At the risk of being trite they are of the king and of the dragon.

              In the west the Arthurian cycle, or “The matter of Britain”   seems to serve as something of a blackboard where any old tom Dick, or Harry, sufficiently skilled , may add a few chapters.  Having covered the tale extensively in other places I mention briefly that it began as a Welsh Stone age male initiation rite and it wound up a cautionary  tale about  three way love affairs  and many other things such as the wounded/fisher king motif.   ( Actually to be correct, it comes into our awareness as an initiation rite – we must assume the tale was around longer then that passed on to us.)

Tangential to that story is the Myrdem, or Merlin   story that becomes a prototype for =wise old wizards, but who begin  as Satan’s spawn. Interestingly the earlier Merlin  figure is not conflicted by his origin. Likewise , of particular interest is the overall smoothness of the transition   from the earlier druidic  religion to Christianity. It brings up something   critical and often overlooked in myth studies, which is that very often the mythical figures are  transition guides, from on set of beliefs or ruling class to another. Ithe same way the ancient temples must be torn down and replace the old ones the oolder saints and heroes  are replaced.

              This provides us with clues, or markers. For instance in the United States, until the 1860’s slavery was the norm in the southern states.  During the civil war  riots ensued in New York City, driven by the fact that recent Irish Immigrants did not want to fight for the freedom of black people.  After the war however the prewar south was romanticized  as a glorious period   when black people reveled in the easy life they lived and were likely as  not to express gratitude to the “kindly  ‘ol massa”  for the fact of having enslaved them!

    Absurd as it sounds it is how the story went. As the general suggested “History will tell lies”  One could suggest that in myth we pay homage to the past.  So does Dante, a man deeply involved in the politics of his own era, use the experienced ghost of poet Virgil as a guide to the underworld. Of course since the homage we pay is of our own choice it often a cut rate homage.

        One last mention before we move on.

           Vigilius Publicus  was a favorite of emperor Augustus because he emphasize those elements of the roman character that had seemed to be most usefull in creating an empire, namely practicality, austerity, self control, reason and even chastity.   He is not read much anymore in part because of the very relaxed nature of his poetry. His is the pastoral vision of fruit ripe on the vine and cows gravid with milk. Virgil’s contemporary, Ovidus Naso  was in comparison a playboy, a man about town   and a briliiant tellerof the often raunchy tales that made op the Roman version of the Greek pantheon.  Suffice to say Augustos did not like Ovid and in fact banished him to the north sea   where Ovid  was miserable.

             The story of Dantes creation of the Commedia is fraught with risk. His fate. like that of Ovids was to offend the powers that and like Cervantes we may speculate that he wrote to keep his sanity, a purpose I certainly can find sympathy with.  The irony of being an intellectual exile, of being forced to live in garrets and rat holes and prisons  when once one led a better life ( such as is my condition) is that if the oppression were more overt I could perhaps find comfort. One feels a little like Dostoyevsky – having come along a little too early in the game.  It is not good however to dwell on such things and so I won’t.

           To conclude then myth often appears after loss. In the case of the girl who has been raped this is absolutely clear.  The mythical guide  is like a social services worker who tries to help us get our lives back together again.  In numerous animal cults around the world we beg forgiveness of the animal  that we have slain, and offer them payments in forms of sacrifice.  It is a curious psychological; proves that isi involved  and it seems to come into play whether we are victim or perpetrator.

          As is said in Zen, one is as much the target as the bowman.

       While it’s in mind I can give you another example  but first I have to ask your forgiveness and that you not take offence at what I am about to tell you.   For the record I received my first death threats at fourteen and by fifteen had been beaten up by a homecoming soldier from the VietNam  war.  I lived at the time in a lower middle class neighborhood called Uniondale and in a place like that people never questioned authority. This has not changed either. Referring to doubts about the Iran war several people wanted me to “step outside and settle things like a man.” In any case.

            We can identify several reason for the generation of popular delusions. The first two are easy -  delusions create mobs and one can utilize the ob for personal gain, secondly illusions terrify the disbelieving minority and they refuse to stand up for their rights. And the third reason is the one with the psychological component – namely the invention of a convienty illusion spares us the knowledge that we have either failed at something or in some way created a debt.

            For example in the year 1975 on the flagpoles of thousands of cities and states in the US, just beneath the Stars and Stripes was a black flag saying  “We support Pows and MIAs’  We have not forgotten”  Apparently I am the last person to remember the POW’s and I didn’t even believe it. A logical mind might have wondered why the North Vietnamese would have retained prisioners ( especially considering the consequences if found out)  but the mythical process does not process on logic.

       The POWS remain in the same place that the Weapons of Mass Destruction remain  - in delusions.  That and suffice to say in Hollywood movies  Sylvester Stallone and even worse actors. From the point of view of the mayors who raised the flags there was no choice. It did not cost anything  and it made them look patriotic.  Granted the vast majority did not believe the tale of the forgotten prisoners   and part of being an American is the willingness to allow other people to believe what they want  there’s another aspect to this however.

            For me the breaking point was the 80’s readers of these “missives” have heard it all before I apologize for sounding like a broken record but one does clarify thoughts with time  and I realize now that I was not so much angry with the Republicans. Reagan was not a Republican in the usual sense, nor was he a crook, he was something far more dangerous then either of them. He was a tyrant in the sense that he believed his own nonsense   and we paid and continued to pay for that.  He loved himself but self sacrifice was not on his list of virtues.

   What broke me up most though was the Democrats. If a out of the loop kid from long island could see what was happening it was difficult to believe that the party of the opposition remained obvious.   As a young up and comer with aspirations I’d read the New Yorker avidly  and then one day I realized it was no longer about people wanting to know things – It had become about people wanting to own things  and to adopt that attitude was more then I cared to do.

      Right and the genesis of the paper today is what may have beenm the final Godzilla movie, which I saw thismorning.  Though in many ways it’s well made and very watchable – like a page turner – it represents the final stage of the mythological franchise that was Gojira  for the Japanese people.

          The original Godzilla was a masterpiece of  characterization. Part Noh actor, part Sumo fighter he was the undying spirit of the  Japanese people.  They may have lost the war but they did not lose their self respect. The original definition of Dragons was “Water Lizards”   and here you had a fire breathing water living, airflying creature of apparently no blood. He was the four elements in one – plus soul.

       (While on the subject of Dragons in actuality they do not play a large role in the historical type things that I study. Likewise often dragons, as in the case of Beowulf, are unfriendly  but I did latch on to George Martins Fire and Ice epic, early and and especially recommend the spoken language version by Roy Dutrice. He was an old English character actor who never reached stardom but for the sheer variety of voices he does an unbeatable job. Unfortunately he died after the third volume. Martin’s not a fast worker but you’re getting a lot of story under one roof.)

     Getting back to “Big G”   after the first few films it settled into a groove  with enemies like Mothra, Ghidra, the Smog Monster  and such. Considering the Japanese predilection for such things there are comparative few robot adversaries.  As well, not being a Japanese speaker I’s difficult for me to judge the quality of the many Godzillas released only in Japan and in Japanese.

       Where I lived as a young man, Long Island, Godzilla seemed to have a strong resonance. It was not quite urban but it was a lot of people crammed together who’s main  concern was working. (I may ad that   local band Blue Oyster Cult   wrote a tribute song   called “Godzilla!”

    In 1984 Hollywood stepped in and released a big budget  film which, while being beautifully photographed  simple was too much over kill. The soundtrack was so loud it put you to sleep. By half way  through you’re wishing they cut to a quiet scene but they never do.  Certainly the scenes with the children  and even the Peanuts singing group were outré, but they were a very effective way  of maintaining  the level of unreality. Plus the predominant auditory element in any Godzilla movie has got to be the cry of Godzilla.  It has to be heard like the trumpets of heaven, coming from another world to establish justice and vindicate the pure of heart.

                         By the time of the last Godzilla the genre is totally devoid of meaning. It is well created and    everything is professional. In the   words of the old wise man – It stunk.

                    Briefly, Godzilla has been transmogrified  from lovable huggy bear to a leftover from the set of alien, the alinazilla   even appears in the form of leftover Raptors from Jurassic park. Instead of one good ending we experience the horror movie trick of several bad ones.  They use the cliché of a surviving zilla to lead on for another  episode but  thankfully this was never made, even here however the filmmakers ignorance of the tools of their craft is both obvious and appalling.  Either the creature is put to sleep.  Or,  far more often, it  makes it’s solitary march to the ocean where it will sleep until the next extra ordinary threat to the way of life of the people arises.

                 

                         This however allows me to speak further of the purpose of myth. We have ascertained that myths at the least help us mask from consciousness un bearable realities.  The notion that upon death, nothing happens , that we simply cease to be, sans thought, or affinity is dealt with via the creation of an entire metaphysical world, heaven.  The knowledge of this truth for many people would render life meaningless. If I may speak of alchemical adepts  such perceptions are alien to us. When one is fighting a battle to the death one hardly concerns them self with how much gold is in the winners trophy.  There can only be one goal – liberation from the chains of the conditioned mind.

   This can be achieved by anyone, instantly.   So the masters tell us and I am willing to go along with what they say.

This in the empty and dark hours of the soul is perceived as ritual.   As we sit in our houses of the holy and of the not so holy  one may easily determine  what is known as the spirit of the communicant.  What you wind up with if the procedure has be correctly performed is a resacralization of the   world of the  celebrant, an at one ment with the divine as it has been known.

is important to bear in mind that although we have a reasonable amount knowledge pertaining to the behaviorist conditioning that creates illusions that  cannot always be said of the operant side. In other words we are often too concerned with the way behavior is forced to the detriment of that, or those, desires that seem to spring up.   Bad seed sometimes falls on fertile ground.

                        A key to the origin of the psychic power of the messianic cult figure can be seen in the fact that those  not in the sphere of influence do not see what all the huh bub  is about.  For instance in Hitle they saw a military veteran of not very elaborate or brilliant viewpoints. His   followers on the other hand saw in the fuhrer all that such service symbolized.. It is as if we see the man and the believer sees the chi’  force.
                Remember, you don’t have to think of these ideas as literally true  as long as they provide meaningful explanations. Probably the best explanation is the leaders is as a conduit -  a means by which the accumulated hopes and fears may be channeled in to some sort of productive measure.  By productive, suffice to say I do not imply that the actions taken would have positive result  according to humanitarian standards.

             The Japanese are a high organized society. The sexes  have had different model behavior for centuries.    Nippon not only includes red light districts in many of it’s  cities and prefectures but was virtually the only combatant in the second world war to go out of  it’s way to provide slave prostitutes, captured from the enemy. Notions of pride and honor are important.

            The creation of   Godzilla (king of monsters) allowed the Japanese to say to themselves “We were no defeated by the  gaijin ( foreigners”)  we  were defeated by  the king of monster – a direct child of nature herself.   Notable almost immediately after the first movie, the series continued in a modality where Godzilla became humanities champion  much in the manner of the many altruistic programs Japan has funded.

          As to .whether the real Godzilla, or the real King Arthur   shall ever disappear forever?  I doubt that.  Legends have a way of hanging on.   In deed it is thought that one of their strongest markers is their abilities to appear when least expected.

             But the big guy sure did make a mess of Tokyo – not that any trace of that remains todayl. Fire Lizard, Flying Lizard, Earth money Water Lizard  the elements create.  And man forgets.

                          Ingmar Bergman once made a movie called “Sawdust and Tinsel”. In it   the Master of Ceremonies was having an affair  with the girl bareback rider  until the muscleman broke it up and stole the girl away.  The ring master was in tears. Finally he went to the animal tent and shot his best friend – the brown bear.

             People   later on asked  Ingmar “What’s this with the bear?”

             He replied  “What else could the ringmaster do?”

Thus destruction invites more destruction in the door and annihilation crows victory without success.